Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Review: Everybody cut Grootloose

Note from me: Apologies for my long absense – laziness is a powerful drug. But I’m back with this new spoiler free review! Thanks for reading!

First off – this film came at me from nowhere. I didn’t realise it was being released until literally two days before I went to see it. That meant I read no reviews, saw no clips, and had no idea what it was about. Now I realise that’s the best way to watch any movie. Avoid the spoiler filled trailers and you’ll enjoy it more.

Parks and Recreation has really changed since I last saw it

Anyway I digress, let’s talk about the actual film. GotG Vol.2 is the sequel to the massive hit Guardians of the Galaxy. These were characters too obscure even for comics nerds so it becoming a success was a big surprise. It’s a credit to director James Gunn and the excellent cast that they made us love this dysfunctional gang of space mercenaries.

Which leads us to the new sequel. Here, Gunn has taken what audiences loved about the first film and ramped it up. And you know what? – that’s the biggest problem with the movie. I adored the jokes and funny banter of GotG but it was always an epic space opera with great action. GotG 2 in contrast is an out and out comedy. Gags are constantly flying around and despite mostly being very funny they tend to make scenes drag and compromise any sense of danger coming from the villains.

Baby Groot is an adorable wee bastard

This might be OK if there was a good story going on around the funny bits. Instead the plot is basically like something from an episode of Futurama or Red Dwarf. The story is pretty simple – Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finds his dad (played by movie god Kurt Russell) and hopes to finally be part of a family. What lesson will Starlord learn from this? It couldn’t be anymore obvious.

On the plus side there’s amazing work done by the supporting cast. Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) are consistently hilarious with ‘The Animal’ Batista (fun fact: he walks alone) stealing every scene he’s in. This trio are the heart of the film having the best lines and the most satisfying character arcs. It’s quite an achievement – the best characters are an ex WWE World Champion, an anthropomorphic raccoon, and a talking baby tree.

Everyone playing the old “everybody look in a different direction and spoil the photo” game

Reading this back I feel like I’ve been overly negative about GotG 2. It’s not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, it works fine as an action-comedy but is missing that element that made the original so memorable. GotG 2 is a fun night out but when it comes time to make like a tree and leave (Groot joke!) there won’t be a lot you’ll remember of it the next day.

6/10

Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2? What did you think? I am Groot? Let me know in the comments below.